Two water mains break in Portland, lane closed on West Burnside
PORTLAND, Ore. – Two water mains broke Monday afternoon in Portland.
According to Portland Water Bureau spokesperson Terry Black, an 8-inch cast iron pipe broke near the intersection of West Burnside Street and Southwest Barnes Road.
One of the eastbound lanes of West Burnside Street will remain closed into Tuesday as crews work to repair the pipe. Black said crews hope to have the pipe repaired by midday Tuesday.
Drivers are urged to avoid the area but traffic controls are in place to help guide them through the area.
The second main break, which was another 8-inch cast iron pipe, was near the intersection of North Fortune Avenue and North Hudson Street.
The break has been repaired and water service was restored.
It's unknown what caused the mains to break. Black said they do not appear to be weather-related.
These and similar occurrences with Portland's aging infrastructure will increase in frequency over time. Portland has been ignoring its infrastructure for decades and operates on an "out of sight, out of mind" principle. Portland has other priorities like providing housing for the Rose Festival Association (thank you water bill payers), building bike lanes (thank you sewer bill payers), building aerial trams, and subsidizing the condos for the rich in the Pearl and South Waterfront areas. Of course there are many more examples.Â
Aging Water Lines, I wonder with each break they should make repairs to the lines whit something more moderns oh Wait, what has the manager of the water works department been doing whit the consumers Monies? Talk about waste and fraud, some one get the tar and feathers and lets have an old fashion tar and feathering Hmm I think randy would look good in the feathers personally.
 @lee986321 No, no...they are going to use future funds for fluoridation instead of repairing the aging infrastructure of the water system. Knuckleheads.
A little duct tape should be able to fix it. But, lets have some more bike lanes!
And the water dept is who"s responsibility? Oh Randy, any explanations for the rate payers you've been ripping off !
Probably planned by the Water Bureau as an excuse to raise rates again.
 @Mikey If you'd been at the secret meeting you wouldn't have to guess. Â
 @Festivus I tried, but there's so many damn secret meetings, it's hard to keep up!
Last time I went to one, I forgot the secret handshake and hip bump. Boy, was my face red!!
 @MikeyÂ
Who controls the British crown?
Who keeps the metric system down?
We do! We do!
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Who leaves Atlantis off the maps?
Who keeps the Martians under wraps?
We do! We do!
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Who holds back the electric car?
Who makes Steve Gutenberg a star?
We do! We do!
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Who robs cave fish of their sight?
Who rigs every Oscar night?
We do! We do!
Please, Please, Please don't tell me I can't swim in the Willamette again ?
 @bat54 Say, you're not that guy with the 12 legs and 16 eyes, are you?
I wonder how many bike paths flooded. The Theif Randy Leonard and his minions should have to pay for this with their ill-gotten gains...
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The city that works...when things are broken.
@Obongo Geddon
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Private utilities never break. Just talk to Comcast/Xfinity, Qwest/Century Link, PGE, and Pacific Power. They will tell you all about their 100% uptime and amazing service.
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Water is so unreliable, unlike my other utilities. I wish it was privatized.
 @Robert G  @Obongo Comcast?? You gotta be kidding! Same goes for CenturyLink when it was Qwest. Qwest was spawn of Satan. Comcast doesn't fix stuff necessarily til after several times.